My formative years were the 1970's. I became a baseball fan in 1975 and lived and breathed it until heading off to college over a decade later. As such, I certainly understand the sentiment regarding Steve Garvey and his perception during his career. I saw him in the same way back then. As a National League fan, I always was proud to have Garvey on the NL All Star team, and cheered him on in the World series every time they played the Yankees.
However.
His stats simply have not held up to the passage of time. His complete lack of plate discipline kills him. He also didn't have a bunch of power for a first baseman and was no better than average defensively (he had a pair of legitimate gold gloves and a pair that were no more than popularity victories...those two legitimate victories were pretty much the only years he was well above average statistically with the glove). In terms of 1B not in the Hall, (not including current or players not yet on the ballot) I would rank them as follows:
1. Rafael Palmeiro
2. Keith Hernandez
3. Will Clark
4. Mark McGwire
5. John Olerud
6. Fred McGriff
7. Norm Cash
8. Carlos Delgado
9. Gil Hodges
10. Don Mattingly
11. Ed Konetchy
12. Mark Grace
13. Joe Judge
14. Steve Garvey
15. Boog Powell
But that still means I would put Garvey in the Hall before I put Jack Morris in there. I could likely list 10-15 players from the Morris era up to the 2000's that I would put in the Hall before I would Morris. And that excludes pitchers from prior to 1977 of whom there are far more who should be there before Morris. As I said, Morris is David Wells. David Wells is Jack Morris.
Tom C
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